Make Me A Man
by writetherest
Summary: Regina temporarily assumes Hook's appearance to kiss Emma and convince her wicked sister that Emma has lost her powers.


**Author's Note:** I took some beginning dialogue directly from the episode 'The Jolly Roger'. It goes AU after that. Written for the Our Story Begins challenge over at Once Upon A Land a while back but somehow I forgot to post here. Thanks to fictorium for the beta and all the things, really.

* * *

Emma was just digging through the cabinets, hoping to find a bottle of alcohol stashed somewhere when she heard the knock on the door. She groaned as she stood up, moved to the door and opened it. She was surprised to see Hook standing on the other side of the door.

Hook, apparently, was surprised to see her, too. "Swan. I didn't expect to see you here."

"What do you mean?" Emma narrowed her eyes, her stomach starting to twist. "Where's Henry? Is everything alright?"

"He's fine. He's with his grandparents. I thought they might be back here." Emma tilted her head. Something about Hook's words was pinging at her brain. She'd asked if everything was alright, but he'd only mentioned Henry.

"We haven't seen them." She decided to test her theory. "If you're not with Henry, what have you been doing all day?"

"I was enlisted to help Ariel find her lost prince." It wasn't an outright lie, but Emma could tell that he wasn't telling the whole truth either.

"Really? That fish is in Storybrooke?" Regina sounded incredulous and Emma felt those feelings echo inside herself, except it had nothing to do with Ariel being in Storybrooke.

"She was, yes. But we found a clue in Gold's shop, which led us to discover that Eric had been shipwrecked on Hang Man's Island just off the coast of the Enchanted Forest."

"Zelena's curse must not have reached that far." Emma said, but her eyes were narrowing as more and more of what Hook said pinged her lie detector.

"Ariel's on her way there now. She wanted me to say goodbye to Mary Margaret for her." Alarms began to blare in Emma's mind. That was a blatant lie.

"Well, at the rate mermaids swim she's probably already there. In fact, let's find out." Regina rose from her chair, distracting Emma for a moment.

"I thought you couldn't use mirror magic to look between worlds?" She frowned.

"I can't. But after seeing the raw power you possess, I think maybe you can." Regina told her and Emma felt a smile stretch across her face. Regina believed in her. Regina believed that she could do something so difficult and she sounded proud instead of angry about it.

"There's no need. I'm sure she's fine." Hook protested and Emma knew then and there that she was right. He was lying and keeping something from her. "Anyway, it's bad form to spy on such a private affair."

Emma spun on him. "It's also bad form to lie to my face, so maybe you want to try again."

Regina looked from her to Hook in interest.

"I – I don't know what you mean, Swan." Hook stammered.

"Lie." Emma accused. "You're not helping yourself here. So you better get talking and telling me the truth. Why did you leave Henry with Mary Margaret and David? What did you do today? What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing. I –"

"Enough, pirate!" Regina waved her head, freezing Hook in place. "You can either start talking of your own accord or I'll make you talk. And believe me, I'd love to make you talk." She squeezed her fingers together and Hook felt his throat being squeezed.

"Alright." He gasped out. Regina released him. "Henry is safe with your parents, Swan. I swear that."

Emma nodded. She believed that, and Hook could consider himself very lucky for that. "I believe you about that. Now tell us the rest. The truth."

"I was tasked to help Ariel find her prince. But… it wasn't truly Ariel."

"Zelena." Regina growled the name, already starting to fit the pieces together.

"She put a glamor on herself, just like Cora did to make us believe Regina killed Archie." Emma also understood. "But why?"

Hook looked down, unwilling to answer.

"Why, Hook?" Emma pressed.

"To curse me." He finally spat out bitterly.

"My sister cursed you?" Regina raised an eyebrow. "To what end?"

"She cursed my lips so that the next time I kiss Swan, it will take all her magic."

Emma took a step back, her hands moving to wrap around her torso in a means of protection. "Wait. What? Kiss? The next time? Is she – are you – as in you and me? No. But – wait. She wants to take my magic?"

"She knows she can't kill you. Not if you have your magic. That's why she wants it gone. And she threatened to kill Henry or your parents if I didn't follow through."

"So you were going to. You were going to try and kiss me, to lie to me and take away my magic." Emma accused, already feeling the sting of betrayal. It didn't surprise her, but it did still hurt.

"To protect the people you love."

"No." Emma shook her head angrily. "To save your skin. Well it won't work. If she wanted to take my power, she should've cursed someone I would actually kiss."

"Swan!" Hook protested. Regina, Emma noted, looked rather amused.

"Is it even possible?" Emma asked, turning to Regina. "Can you just take someone's magic?"

"My sister is very powerful. If she cursed Hook's lips, then yes, it is entirely possible that if he were to kiss you, it would take your magic." Regina answered with a sour look.

"Okay." Emma nodded, her mind spinning until it settled on the only decision she could think of. "Then you need to take my magic first."

Regina blinked, looking shocked. "What?"

"She won't stop until she gets my magic. She will go after Henry and I know that you and I will keep him safe but I won't risk anyone else being hurt by her. So I want you to take my magic. She can't take it if you already have it. And you know as well as I do that we're stronger together. If you take my magic – if I give it to you and we combine it in you – then you can defeat her."

Regina felt as though butterflies had entered her stomach and she knew that if her heart was still in her body, it would be flipping at Emma's words. Here was the Savior with the most powerful magic she'd ever witnessed, offering to give up her magic to Regina. Not for Regina to take it, but for her to have it, for Emma to give it to her willingly. If Zelena had anything to be jealous of, Regina thought, it would be this. The Savior believed in her, she trusted her, and was willing to give her power over to Regina.

"It wouldn't work." Regina sighed sadly.

"What? But you just said –"

"Besides the Dark One, whose power comes from the dagger, you cannot take another person's magic. You can strip someone of their magic – which is what Zelena's curse is intended to do – but you cannot take it into yourself. You do, however, have a good point. Our magic is stronger together. If we combined it as we have in the past, it could very well be enough to defeat her."

"Okay. So let's do it. We'll call your sister up for another fight. Only this time, we'll combine our magic and blast her ass all the way back to Oz."

Regina's lips quirked at Emma's crude phrasing, even while she tried to look menacing. "While that sounds… lovely… I think we need the element of surprise. We need her to believe you've lost your magic."

"But how do we do that?"

"By having you kiss Hook."

Hook seemed to perk up at this. "You mean you can undo the curse?"

"Hold it, loverboy." Emma snorted in derision. "I already told you, I don't want to kiss you."

"Neverland says differently, love." Hook wiggled his eyes suggestively. Emma scoffed.

"Neverland was a mistake which I will not be repeating."

"She's correct. She will not be kissing you, pirate." Regina said matter-of-factly.

"But I thought you said –"

"We'll use Zelena's own trick against her." Regina shrugged as though the answer was obvious and Emma realized what she meant.

"You. You'll use a glamor to look like Hook."

"Very good, Emma." Regina grinned at her. "I can not only make myself look like the pirate, I can also use my magic to mimic what would happen were you to kiss Hook. Zelena will believe you are powerless. She'll attack and we'll catch her off guard."

Emma grinned. "That's perfect." She turned her eyes to Hook. "Now, what do we do with him?"

"Oh, I have a plan for him."

"What? Swan, you can't just let her –"

"Yes, I can." Emma cut him off. "As far as I'm concerned, you lost any minimal chance you had when you lied to me. Besides, I trust Regina. She's changed."

Regina couldn't stop the beaming smile that spread over her face. "Thank you, Emma."

Emma tilted her head and grinned. "So, shall we get this show on the road?"

* * *

Regina frowned as she looked through Hook's telescope, watching Emma and Henry eat dinner with Mary Margaret and David. She was glad to see them all safe and happy, but she wished she could be there with them. And she wished that she was in her own body to do it.

Already the glamor was driving her crazy and she'd only be in it for a few minutes. She couldn't stand the stench of stale rum and sea water that seemed to permeate from Hook's body, nor was she used to the hook she had to deal with. But it would all be worth it to defeat her sister.

Speaking of…

"Watching from afar?" Zelena's voice taunted. "How pitiful."

Regina turned, doing her best to keep control of her expressions. She couldn't give herself away. Instead, she did her best to look like a lovesick, wounded pirate. It wasn't that hard because she'd seen the idiot looking at Emma this way enough. "I've already told you –"

"Yes, yes, you won't kiss her because you love her so much. Blah blah blah." Zelena rolled her eyes. "Haven't you learned, pirate? Love is weakness."

Regina bit down hard on Hook's tongue to stop herself from reacting to those words.

"Now – go and kiss her or I'll have my pet kill the boy." She waved the dagger and Rumple moved forward from the alley.

"Rum – Crocodile." She caught herself in time. "You wouldn't kill the lad would you?"

"He will do whatever I say." Zelena barked, waving the dagger as though to prove her point. "So I suggest that unless you want Granny to have to scrub blood off her floors, that you get moving, pirate."

Regina glared at Zelena, not caring anymore. No one threatened her son that way. She would make sure her sister paid.

"Fine." She spit out, turning and walking towards the diner, being sure to affect the pirate's swaggering gait.

She pushed through the door and moved quickly over to the table, watching as all the occupants looked up in surprise, although she noted the smile in Emma's eyes.

"Hook, what are you –" She reached out with Hook's good hand and pulled Emma up from her seat, being careful not to squeeze too tightly.

"Sorry, love." She said before leaning over.

Just before their lips connected, a small smile slipped onto Emma's lips as one word slipped out through them. "Regina."

When their lips connected, there was a wave of magic that passed outwards, even as another swirled upwards.

Gasps were heard throughout the diner as they finally pulled away from each other.

"Regina?" Emma's eyes were searching Hook's, trying to find some trace of the emotion that she could always read so readily in Regina's.

"I remember." She murmured, the memories of the past year flying into her brain.

"Ma!" Henry gasped out from his place the table. "I remember! I remember everything!"

Both Emma and Regina let out shaky laughs at that.

"How sweet." Zelena's voice rang out as the doors to the diner flew open and she stepped through. "You remember just in time to watch your mother die."

Zelena flung her hand out, lifting Emma off the ground and then squeezing, watching as she flailed and choked.

"Let her go!" Regina demanded, already moving forward.

"What are you going to do, pirate? It's your fault she's powerless to stop it."

"What am I going to do? How about this?" With a wave of her hand, Regina shed the glamor, revealing herself. A second later, she tossed magic at Zelena, enough to knock her off balance and cause her to release Emma.

"And who says I'm powerless?" Emma coughed as she stood up, instantly reaching for Regina and taking hold of her hand.

"What?" Zelena gasped. "No."

"Sorry, sis." Regina smirked as she flung her hand out, shooting a stream of violet magic that surrounded Zelena and held her immobilized. "But it looks like you're the one who's powerless. Or will be in just a minute."

Still holding Emma's hand, Regina moved closer, her eyes never leaving the pendant around Zelena's neck. "You see, I remember now. I know how to defeat you."

"N-no. You can't." Zelena frantically looked around, trying to break her bonds or find a mean of escape, but there was none. Regina allowed the magic to stop flowing long enough to reach forward and tug the pendant from Zelena's neck. "NO." She yelled as her power all drained from her.

"Mom! Ma!" Henry raced forward, embracing both of them. "You did it!"

"Yeah, kid." Emma said, hugging him and Regina tightly. "We did."

"It isn't possible!" Zelena was still wailing on the ground. "You can't have remembered. You can't have broken my curse. Not without –"

Regina and Emma's eyes locked on each other as Mary Margaret finished Zelena's sentence. "True Love's Kiss."

"Awesome!" Henry exclaimed, hugging them both again, his grin splitting his face.

Emma smiled too, searching Regina's face. "I don't know – doesn't seem fair that you got to kiss me as me but I had to kiss you as Hook." She made a face and stuck out her tongue.

"You had a problem with my manly glamor?" Regina raised her eyebrow in challenge. "Because as I recall, you did say my name just before I kissed you."

"Yeah, I had a problem with your manly glamor. I'm not in love with Hook. Or any other man. And I only want to kiss you as you from now on."

Regina's eyes lit up and she smiled widely too as she leaned forward to bring their lips together for another longer, more passionate kiss.. "I believe we can arrange that."


End file.
